


Empty Pockets (4x02)

by Zofiecfield



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, Feelings, Fluff and Angst, Gen, One Shot, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:28:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25772107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zofiecfield/pseuds/Zofiecfield
Summary: She has nothing left to give
Relationships: Waverly Earp & Nicole Haught, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught, Wynonna Earp & Nicole Haught
Comments: 5
Kudos: 34





	Empty Pockets (4x02)

Jarring, to find her changed, subtle to the eye, but it's there in every movement, every word.

You saw her yesterday, but her yesterday was so long ago. _A lifetime ago_ , she jokes, hollow.

You recognize change in her touch, reluctant to let go, too restless to stay. Even laughing and light, there’s an anxious coat underneath. And in her gaze, stiffened, sharpened. Constant vigilance has drawn her taut and won’t release her. She clings to it now, can’t let go and risk the fall.  
  


You cherish and console, but you can see your words evaporate too fast to sink in and soothe her. You try to smooth the under layers, but you can barely reach them. They hunker down away from your touch, burrowing in and settling deeper. Rattling around the cavern of her, you find no light or solid purchase.

She talks freely about the days spent in your absence, but never about their cost, no matter your questions. Never about the bargaining, the pleading, the deals made to survive. Deals with herself, deals with who else? She paid everything to wait for you, to stake out ground and defend it. Sold herself and left only an echo and worn floor boards, paced smooth.  
  


She bristles at your empathy. Tries to hide it with a smile, but you see. No matter how soft, she does not soften.  
  


As she fights alongside you, a team united to the eye, you can see her growing absence. Look quick and she’s solid; linger longer and you see, transparent now, nearly ghost.  
  


You’re unnerved to find her this way, increasingly afraid, increasingly angry, increasingly changed. She’s in your arms, but they’re empty. Slipping from your fingers, dropping away from you into darkness. So far away, so far gone, no angel could save her.   
  


But, Love, in your despair, as you watch her lose herself, you have forgotten. Angels don’t stand alone.  
  


* * *

  
It’s Wynonna who catches her and hauls her back.

You wake to find her sitting against the headboard, body quiet, fingers gentle in your hair. You scramble to sit, scramble for words, anything to keep her there like this, like she used to be. The faint smile on her face stops you. So familiar, but she wears it like it’s brand new.   
  


She hands you the folded note, in familiar hurried scrawl.  
  


_HaughtSauce, Haught Lady Pants, HaughtShit,_  
  


_Look. You’re a fudge brownie, soft on the inside, strong crust at the edges, drop dead gorgeous crackling top. The oven was on for so long when we weren’t home, and it dried you out, and you got all crunchy. I'm sorry we weren't here to turn it off. All crust? No gooey middle? A fucking tragedy._  
  


_Let us be your ice cream and chocolate syrup. Let us moisten you up again. (Well, let Waverly do that bit. Wink.) Be the brownie, N._  
  


_It's killing us, to watch you fade away._  
  


_Anyway. Pull it together. You’re not alone. Tough love, don’t fuck with my family, yada yada. BFF, you promised._  
  


_W_

_p.s. Don't show this to Waverly. She banned sexy brownie jokes three years ago._

At the bottom is a crude sketch of a brownie and a scoop of ice cream enjoying each other graphically on a spoon, with a bottle of chocolate syrup in the doorway covering its lid and hollering, “Again?? Get a bowl!”  
  


You look up, uncertain, but she’s already laughing. It’s heaven, and you join her. Laugh until you cry, and the tears come hard.

Eyes still streaming, she looks straight at you for the first time in days. _Waverly, I was so alone for so long. I gave so much, and I’m afraid there isn’t enough left._

Door cracked open, you step inside to see her in the light, unafraid of what you’ll find.


End file.
